Not So Picture-Perfect After All
by Lady Sloane
Summary: Ariana Dumbledore sees some things that aren't meant to be seen. The Dumbledore family was never as picture-perfect as it seems. And far more deadly that it ever appeared to be.


Written for the International Wizarding School Championship

School: Beauxbatons

Theme: Godric's Hollow

Special Rule: Write a pairing you have never written before. (Grindelwald/Dumbledore)

Main Prompt: [Song] Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez

Additional Prompts: [Weather] Thunderstorm, [Emotion] Deja Vu

Year: 3

Wordcount: 1186

* * *

The thunder crackled menacingly overhead, the backdrop to Albus and Gellert arguing once again. They were always arguing nowadays.

Supposedly, they were friends, and _only_ friends, but Ariana knew that they were far more than that. She wasn't supposed to know that, actually, but it was obvious to anyone with eyes.

Since when did people who were "just friends" have rendezvous in darkened alleys? Since when did "just friends" send owls back and forth to each other, at all hours of the day and night, when they literally lived just five minutes away?

They never noticed her watching them, anyway. Only Aberforth did.

And Aberforth was the only one who cared about her.

What would it take for Albus to notice her for once in his life? It would seem that nothing would make him value her. He only thought of her as a burden, a little sister who was a weight upon his dreams of world domination with Gellert.

Gellert. A lightning bolt flashed overhead. It was always Gellert, wasn't it? Gellert this and Gellert that, and completely forgetting about his shameful little sister.

That was what Albus always did, truth be told. Pretended that everything was perfect and nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong at _all_ with the Dumbledore family, of course not. Nothing could possibly mar Albus' perfect reputation. It wasn't like he had a criminal for a father and an Obscurial for a sister.

There. Now she had admitted it. She was an Obscurial. The shame of the family. One of the only dark spots on the otherwise pristine reputation of the Dumbledore family.

Otherwise, their family was perfect. Just as long as no one looked too closely.

Ariana crept closer to the stairwell. They were arguing about her again. Gellert's next inevitably hateful words were masked by the sounds of thunder.

Ariana could never understand how Gellert and Albus had gotten together in the first place. They were so different, and he just went against everything Albus believed about a "perfect" family.

She supposed it all began when Gellert moved into Godric's Hollow. The two of them had just clicked. And then it became something more, between their constant discussions of world domination and other things that didn't really involve any talking.

They got closer and closer, and Albus, aggrieved by the fact that he had to stay home and care for his Obscurial little sister, had found the perfect friend and confidant.

The two of them were never seen apart from the other, except at night. But even then they sent owls back and forth all through the early hours of the morning.

Albus and Gellert seemed to just fit together. But Albus had always been obsessed with putting up a perfect image of their family, and his relationship with Gellert didn't exactly fit everyone's expectations of a model family.

Just like her.

But their family still seemed picture-perfect from the outside, really. It was just if you looked too closely, you might discover things that weren't exactly meant for the public eye.

But lately, they had been arguing more, especially once Aberforth had come home from Hogwarts and found out their plans for Ariana and how they were going to take her along with them when they went searching for objects out of fairytales.

Lightning flashed and thunder boomed almost simultaneously. The thunderstorm was nearly overhead. Peering down the staircase, Ariana could see flashes of spellfire amid shouting.

What on earth was going on?

Descending the stairs, Ariana took in the scene before her. Gellert, Albus, and Aberforth were in the midst of a three-way duel. A deadly magenta spell came streaking towards Aberforth.

"No!" she cried out, as she watched Aberforth duck in the nick of time, the spell leaving an angry-looking scorch mark on the wall behind him.

All three pairs of eyes turned to face her.

"Ariana, stay out of this!" Aberforth told her.

"And why should I? Your argument does involve me!" Ariana shouted back, her temper quickly rising. "I'm not stupid, you know!"

Gellert and Albus turned to face her with identical looks of loathing that clearly expressed the fact that yes, they thought she was stupid. Albus' gaze conveyed something more, telling her that she should shut up and be the perfect little sister.

Gellert smiled a lazy smile, twirling his wand between his fingers, "Well, if the Squib wants to play, I don't see why not. It's not like she can cause any real harm anyway."

Ariana could feel her temper quickly getting the better of her. _Calm down. Deep breaths. Breathe in and breathe out. In and out. Don't let the monster inside you out. You know what happened last time._

A sense of deja vu overcame her. She had to stifle a hysterical sob at what had happened last time. Last time she lost her temper. Last time her mother had died.

_Don't let it happen again. Deep breaths. In and out. In and out._

"What? Nothing to say, Squib?" Gellert taunted.

Ariana wanted to scream and cry at him. She'd show him magic. He wouldn't live to regret it. She could feel her power breaking out of her. That feeling of deja vu intensified.

As if having heard her thoughts, Aberforth was in front of her. "Breathe, Ariana."

But she didn't want to breathe. All she wanted to do was let go because everything was just so painful and why couldn't she just let go of everything and Aberforth's concerned blue eyes were just staring at her and it was Aberforth and she just wanted to be free but she didn't want to and she didn't know what to do.

It was just like her mother's death all over again except Aberforth was here this time. And she didn't want to hurt Aberforth. So Ariana let air fill her lungs, and she exhaled. Again. And again.

"So not only is your Squib sister brainless, but she's also mute? Why exactly can't we just kill her?" Gellert asked Albus in a conversational tone.

Ariana felt everything explode all at once. Aberforth started duelling Gellert in earnest, and Albus was trying to duel both at once or was he trying to stop them? Ariana didn't know.

All she knew was that everything was just like last time. Pretty much exactly like last time. Everything became too much for her, and she had no choice but to relinquish her tremulous hold on her magic.

And everything imploded.

Thunder and lightning boomed outside, lighting the room up eerily. Time seemed to pass in slow motion as the monster within her exploded outward, rushing towards Gellert.

Two deadly emerald green spells came rushing towards her, impacting her at the same time. One from in front of her and one from behind. One from Gellert... and one from Albus.

The Obscurial collapsed. Ariana's body collapsed, her sapphire blue eyes open, unseeing. The last vestiges of light from the lightning outside briefly illuminated her softly smiling face, before it too was gone, and the only source of light remaining was the soft flickering of the candles.


End file.
